REVIEW  OBESITY: A SPOTLIGHT ON THERAPEUTIC APPROACHES 

Minerva Endocrinology 2021 June;46(2):161-7

DOI: 10.23736/S2724-6507.20.03356-8

Copyright © 2020 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Very-low-calorie ketogenic diet for the management of obesity, overweight and related disorders

Marco CASTELLANA ¹ ✉, Elisa BIACCHI ², Filippo PROCINO ¹, Felipe F. CASANUEVA ³, Pierpaolo TRIMBOLI ^{4, 5}

¹ Unit of Population Health, Saverio de Bellis National Institute of Gastroenterology, Research Hospital, Castellana Grotte, Bari, Italy; ² Ambulatori Multisito per la Cura del Sovrappeso e dell’Obesità, Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale (EOC), Bellinzona, Switzerland; ³ Spanish Network for Obesity and Nutrition Research (CIBEROBN), Division of Endocrinology, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain; ⁴ Clinic for Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders, Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale (EOC), Bellinzona, Switzerland; ⁵ Faculty of Biomedical Sciences, Università della Svizzera Italiana (USI), Lugano, Switzerland

INTRODUCTION: Very-low-calorie ketogenic diet (VLCKD) is a promising lifestyle intervention for the management of overweight and obesity. It is characterized by a restriction of both calories and carbohydrates, while assuring the adequate proteins, fats and micronutrients intake. Significant results in terms of excess body weight loss have been reported and this strategy considered also in the preoperative settings. Improvements in hypertension, type 2 diabetes and dyslipidemia follows.
EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: PubMed and Google Scholar were searched for papers reporting data on VLCKD as a strategy for the management of overweight, obesity and related disorders in adults.
EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: Four main documents are available in the literature and were included in the present narrative review.
CONCLUSIONS: The present review discusses available evidence and provides practical recommendations for the management of VLCKD.

KEY WORDS: Diet, ketogenic; Obesity; Diabetes mellitus, type 2; Review